After a slow start to the season, the Minnesota Golden Gophers found their stride last weekend picking up a huge sweep of #3 North Dakota at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The Gophers will look to build on that at home this weekend as they open the Big Ten portion of their schedule hosting Penn State for a pair of games. It’s still the front half of what will end up being a 3M At Mariucci record nine game homestand. Was last weekend a mirage, or a trend? Only one way to find out.
The Gophers were the best
team last weekend against the #3 Fighting Hawks. Minnesota controlled the play for most of the weekend and were more physical, more skilled and turn that into goals resulting in a pai for 5-3 wins. It was some of the new players who found their games with Christian Humphries scoring two goals in Thursday’s win and adding a third on Friday, and freshman center Wyatt Cullen picking a great time to erupt for his first three goals on the season in a hat trick to ice Friday night’s win. He was named the Big Ten’s #1 Star of the Week for his efforts. Minnesota got good goaltending from both their goalies as well with Luca DiPasquo picking up the win on Thursday making 21 saves and Michigan State transfer Melvin Strahl standing on his head to make 42 saves to help the Gophers finish off the sweep. The Gophers regained a national ranking after the sweep reentering the USCHO poll this week at #18 in the nation.
After six games Brodie Ziemer and Cullen lead the Gophers with five points each. Both both have three goals on the season along with Humphries tying them for the team lead. With Strahl back and healthy from a concussion issue to open the season, expect to see both Gopher goalies once again see action this weekens.
Penn State enters the weekend after a lackluster start to the season as well. They opened the season with an 0-4 start dropping games to UConn, Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac and Robert Morris. They finally picked up their first two wins of the season last weekend as well against Canisius winning 5-1 on Friday and 3-2 in OT on Saturday. Maine transfer Justin Poirer leads the Nittany Lions with eight points on the season and has recorded a point inf five of PSU’s six games this season. His three goals ties him for the team lead with Mac Gadowsky. NHL first round draft pick Jackson Smith is also warming up and has a five game point streak. He was the Big Ten’s #3 Star of the Week last week after a four point weekend including Saturday’s OT game winner.
The Nittany Lions are once again struggling in goal. They have split time between sophomore Josh Fleming and freshman Ryder Fetterolf, and both have been middling. Both are 1-2 on the season with Fleming having a 3.04 goals against average and a .904 save percentage to Fetterolf’s 3.39 GAA and .897 save percentage.
As always in Big Ten games, expect special teams to make a difference. Minnesota comes in ranked #9 in the nation on the power play converting 4 of 14 chances so for this season. The Nittany Lions are 4-19 with the man advantage for a 21.05% success rate good enough for 24th in the nation. Neither team has been great killing off penalties this season with Penn State’s 80% kill rate ranking 35th in the nation, but its better than the Gophers abysmal 66.7% kill rate ranking them 57th in the nation—only ahead of Lindenwood.
The Gophers will look to continue their long term success against Penn State, and reverse the trend that occurred during last year’s down season. Minnesota owns a record of 33-23-1 (.588) in the all-time series against Penn State, including an impressive 21-8-0 (.724) mark in games at 3M Arena at Mariucci. But Penn State has won four in a row including a Big Ten Quarterfinal last season. Minnesota wants to get back to where they had won 16 out of 19 between 2021 and 2025.
Friday’s night faceoff is set for 7 PM and Saturday’s is set for 6 PM. Both games will air locally on Fox9+ and will stream on B1G+.
